Florida’s Best Roller Coasters

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Looking for a great plan to put a smile on your kids’ faces? With cheap holidays to Florida there’s never been a better time to get to a theme park. These amusement parks are designed for kids big and small, but how do you choose which one to visit? We’ve put together a guide to the top roller coasters to help you decide!

Hunt for Big Game in Busch Gardens

Busch Gardens in Tampa is host to one of Florida’s newest roller coasters: ‘Cheetah Hunt’. Though it was designed to be “family-friendly”, it’s also truly exhilarating. The ride uses electromagnetic force to hurl trains forward like a gun. Talk about pulse-raising!

Joining Cheetah in Tampa is Montu. This elegant roller coaster is decorated with themes from the ancient Egyptian God of War. Montu was one of the world’s first “inverted” coasters and though many others have followed suit since, they struggle to compete with this beast. Upside down, you are thrown through a whirlwind of sweeping drops, narrow trenches and consciousness-warping inversions, awesome.

Sheikra is a gargantuan vehicle, you climb 60 metres, roll around a wide turn, and then, ever so slowly, tip over the edge of a vertical precipice. And there you stop, held in place for a few harrowing seconds, just waiting to fall. Brutal but brilliant.

Tame the Dragon in Legoland

Next head on over to Legoland in Florida’s Winter Haven and see if you can survive the wrath of the Dragon. This coaster includes a pre-lift hill section inside a small castle with static and animated figures made of Lego bricks: knights, jesters, wizards, and, as expected, one very cool dragon. It’s unlikely that you’ll need motion sickness medication before riding, but Dragon is still a treat (and thankfully it’s not actually made of Lego)!

Step into Egypt at Universal Studios

Revenge of the Mummy is a high-speed indoor roller coaster, which leaves you in terrifying darkness. You will catapult forwards and backwards and move from 0 – 45 mph in a couple of seconds. Situated at Universal Studios it’s by far the best indoor roller coaster in the world, and yes I’ve remembered Disney’s Space Mountain!

Beneath the Waves at SeaWorld

Kraken at SeaWorld, Orlando, tosses you through inversions with its “flying chair” that gets up to 65mph. It has incredible surroundings including a sea monster’s rocky lair. Be sure to also check out the little eel exhibit.

Manta is the first and only “flying” roller coaster in Florida, another SeaWorld special. It’s called the flying roller coaster because you’re layed out flat on your front then catapulted forwards so you feel like a bird. While not as inversion-packed as Kraken, Manta has a “Pretzel Loop”, that subjects riders to strong G-forces. The physical presence of Manta offers passengers a “wing dip”, where the edge of a train appears to skim the surface of a pond, kicking up a splashy plume (a clever deceit accomplished with some timed fountains).

Check out these coasters on your trip and you’ll be sure to have a mind-blowing experience.